Minnesota Politicians Put the Brakes on Prince’s Paisley Park Museum

Chanhassen, Minnesota faces a tough decision: Does it want to become a Prince “tourist town?” The city is home to the famed Paisley Park estate where Prince lived and recorded most of his music, and plans to turn the site into a museum have conflicted the city council. Councillors deliberated for three hours last night to weigh the pros and cons of inviting an estimated 600,000 tourists into their community each year.

Paisley Park is scheduled to open as a museum on October 6 — the day after tomorrow. Because no rezoning decision was reached last night, The Star Tribunedoubts that the opening will happen this week, after all. Holdouts on the council say they need more time to study the impact of the landmark and whether Chanhassen is currently equipped to handle that volume of visitors.

“I think we have one chance to get this right,” said council member Bethany Tjornhom.

No official delay to the opening has been confirmed, but Prince fans in the Minnesota area may have to wait a bit longer to tour the icon’s estate.